The Free Software Foundation is reviewing Novell's right to sell new versions of Linux operating system software after the open-source community criticized Novell for teaming up with Microsoft. "The community of people wants to do anything they can to interfere with this deal and all deals like it. They have every reason to be deeply concerned that this is the beginning of a significant patent aggression by Microsoft," Eben Moglen, the Foundation's general counsel, said on Friday. Update: The FSF claims this is being hyped.

Novell signed a deal with Microsoft to give patent protection to their users regarding Microsoft's patents. That's opens up everyone else who distributes Linux but isn't part of the deal to patent lawsuits from Microsoft.

It doesn't matter if they can win. With Microsoft's resources, they could crush a competitor just by bringing the lawsuit. A small target (like RedHat), would run out of money before the case was even decided.

That is the legal system here in the US, where most cases never even make it to trial. People will regularly concede defeat just to avoid the legal costs of a trial.